The Blair years: new law passed every three hours

In his ten years as Prime Minister, Tony Blair has introduced a new law every three-and-a- quarter hours, new research reveals.

Since 1997, an average of 2,685 laws have been passed every year - a 22 per cent rise on the previous decade.

They have covered subjects ranging from the importing of bed linen to the evaluation of statistics on labour costs.

The figure does not include European Union laws which also affect Britain - last year, 2,100 of those were passed, bringing the total to 4,785 or 13 every day, according to legal publishers Sweet & Maxwell.

Of the laws, 98 per cent were brought in by statutory instruments, rather than Acts of Parliament. The procedure allows less time for debate by MPs than the tabling of a Bill.

The statutes themselves have become longer, with five Acts passed last year taking more than 100 pages to explain, three of them more than 200, another above 300, another above 500 and one more than 700 pages long.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Oliver Heald said: "Tony Blair and Gordon Brown think the answer to everything is to make a new law.

"But, after creating thousands of new laws, violent crime has doubled."

A spokesman for the Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, said: "Politicians often equate legislation with action.

"But the growing complexity of the law is the main reason trials are taking longer and costing more."

A No.10 spokesman said: "The Government makes no apology for legislating where necessary to improve the lives of people in this country."